


One Headlight

by Dances_In_Ashes



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 04:15:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8734540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dances_In_Ashes/pseuds/Dances_In_Ashes
Summary: (old piece posted here from my tumblr from four years ago)  Prompt from spooper-natural on tumblr for being my 89th follower.  Hope this is what you were looking for!Prompt:  Regina is killed in a car accident, and an imaginary Emma has to explain to her she’s dead.





	

“I love you,” tumbles out so fast she’s really not sure where it comes from. But she’s reaching across the dingy diner table, her fingers sliding over the ones settled across from her, and squeezing so she can feel the warmth bleed into her –she’s so ridiculously cold.

There’s a quirking of lips, a wry but obscenely sad curve that twists a pink mouth into the very epitome of sorrow. “I love you, too, Regina,” and the beautiful truth dances in the sparkling green of her always-sad eyes. Only, this time, there truly are tears. The moisture clings to the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill long tracks down her cheeks, but by some miraculous feat she holds them back. “I’ve loved you since I first saw you, and I’ll continue to love you even after the world burns.”

Burns. 

The former Evil Queen pauses, her heart missing a beat. Why did that simple word bring strange, blurred memories to her mind’s forefront? Of flames, and the smell of hot oil, and the screech of twisting-

“Emma?” she asks abruptly, the flash of memory bringing a sense of terror and panic with it that drops through her and settles ingested poison.

Those blonde curls are tumbling over her shoulders, glowing in the most ludicrous way, as if back-lit by heaven itself. The red leather of her ridiculous jacket looks so soft the urge to reach out and touch it almost makes her do exactly that. But her free hand freezes between them, staying itself mid-air. Emma looks so beautiful, so… angelic. Where their hands touch is a warm, creeping sense of comfort. The terror pounding through her veins eases, leaving behind the most overwhelming sense of peace and love.

Her voice is soft when she speaks again, and Regina briefly considers the possibility that she’s not actually hearing the voice, but that it’s being sung into her thoughts. 

“Everything’s alright, Regina. Everything’s alright.” Regina feels fingers ghost over her cheek, and she can feel something wet smear between them. She doesn’t remember when she started crying, but now that she focused, she could feel the cool lines down her face and the collecting tears along her jaw. “You don’t remember, do you?”

“Emma?” she questions, fingers tightening over the Savior’s.

“There was an accident. You were driving us home from the grocery store when a car ran a red light and hit us.” There’s a brief smile, full of all the world’s sadness, as her trailing fingers turn into the warmth of a palm. The caress is tender and soft, and Regina leans into the feeling. A thumb passes over her lips before being replaced by lips in a chaste kiss. “You were killed, Regina.”

“We’re in the diner,” she responds, equal parts confused and disbelieving. “I’m… here with you.”

“Is that so?” Emma’s eyes cut away, and Regina follows her gaze, but what she could have sworn earlier were patrons and waiters and a busy diner is nothing but an empty restaurant, fuzzy around the edges, as if the image can’t quite complete itself. Now that she thinks about it, she can’t remember arriving, or being waited on. 

“But you-“

“The real me is not dead. I’m merely your mind’s way of reconciling what’s happened.” Regina contemplated this a moment, turning the information around in her head. Emma had long ago stopped wearing her infamous jacket –about the time their second daughter had been born. And then she’d retired the thing for ‘fashion’ reasons. As if the thing had ever been ‘in.’ More likely, it was the teasing by their children that finally had Emma rolling her eyes and finding something more suitable and ‘less embarrassing.’ Her lips tugged into a smile at the memory. 

And then the panic began to rise again. “But, Emma, the kids-“

“They are all fine. There’s no need to worry. And you… you were happy these last twenty years. You had love and joy and family.”

She can only nod, the numbing peace still soaking in to her. Then, Emma –but not her Emma- stands up and holds out her hands. Regina takes them, like always, without hesitation.

“Come on, I have some people who’d very much like to see you again.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry everyone, I was only the instrument. T^T


End file.
